Toxic algae could force Auburn, Syracuse to spend millions to extend water pipes

Syracuse, N.Y. - The cities of Syracuse and Auburn could be forced to spend tens of millions to extend their water intake pipes to prevent toxic algae from infiltrating drinking water.

Both cities battled the algae blooms last year. The state has recently laid out a list of possible actions to be taken to prevent toxins from the algae from getting into the water, including extending the pipes and putting them in deeper water.

Auburn, which has had a problem for several years with algae toxins getting into its drinking water supply, drawn from Owasco Lake, did a study two years ago to see how to best handle the algae blooms. One option was to extend the current pipe from 35 to 100 feet below the surface. That would cost $10.5 million, said Seth Jensen, the city's director of municipal utilities.

"That was the most expensive option that we had reviewed," Jensen said.

The city instead installed a carbon activated filter system last year to screen out the toxins, called microcystins. Auburn already filters the water it draws from the lake, as does the town of Owasco.

Extending the intake pipe is still a possible solution, Jensen said.

In the next Finger Lake to east, Skaneateles Lake, Syracuse draws water without filtration. City officials had said when the toxic algae bloom started last year that the two intake pipes at the north end of the lake were deep enough to prevent infiltration. But the microcystins were found not only at the level of the deeper pipe, 45 feet, but all the way down to 85 feet.

The city, at the urging of the state health department, is exploring a number of ways to prevent algae from getting into drinking water, including the extension of intake pipes farther out and deeper in the lake, said Rich Abbott, a public health sanitarian in the city water department.

If toxic algae is confirmed in Skaneateles Lake again this year, Abbott said in an email sent by a city spokeswoman, the city will take samples from "deep water locations" to test for microcystins. The city will also consult "with industry experts regarding the feasibility of extending one of the city's drinking water intakes," he said.

The city had no cost estimate on building a deeper pipe.

Abbott said the city in 2016 set up a buoy at the spot of a possible pipeline extension to collect data on temperature, turbidity and chlorophyll-a, the pigment found in algae.

Skaneatles and Owasco were among a dozen lakes studied over the past year by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The department last month issued action plans for all of those lakes. Recommendations include stricter controls on runoff from farms and yards, more inspections of potentially leaking septic tanks, the purchase of land in watersheds to reduce runoff, and deeper intake pipes.